Marketing, Media and Advertising Category
Merit Recipient

In 2020, a group of Salesforce professionals in Australia decided to do something tangible to diversify the Salesforce community by creating a buddy program. Completely separate to the official Salesforce Mentoring scheme, this buddy program is about making connections. The team recognised their careers had all been kick-started in some way by someone giving them a chance. We wanted to help others get that boost by providing advice, guidance and introductions.

To date, over 120 people have been matched with Salesforce professionals, and there are buddies all over the world.

The program was initiated as a result of the BLM protests around the world in 2020. A group of already connected Salesforce Professionals came together to discuss what could be done to support those in Australia trying to get work in the sector. We acknowledged that for the majority, the challenge wasn’t their experience or capability, it was their country of origin and/or their name.

Many people in the program are women from Asia. Many have years of experience but are often overlooked because they don’t “present” in the expected way. Their names are challenging and they’re often looking for part time work.

As well as the matching program, we’ve also started a LinkedIn page where jobs can be shared, and have monthly meet ups with guest speakers and presentations from those in the program so they can practice their presentation skills.